On August 17th, 2023, U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich, Jon Tester, and Patty Murray led a letter urging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to involve Tribal consultations and engage rural communities in discussions before finalizing its policy on disposing of prescription opioids at home. The letter, addressed to FDA Commissioner Robert Califf, also has the signatures of Senators Elizabeth Warren, Sherrod Brown, Catherine Cortez Masto, Ron Wyden, John Hickenlooper, Tammy Baldwin, and Ben Ray Luján, emphasizing the need for this engagement according to a press release.
"For our constituents, particularly the thousands who live in rural and Tribal communities, the ability to safely deactivate and dispose of drugs at home would be a strong tool in the fight against addiction," the letter stated.
Per a recent FDA directive, unused opioid tablets must be appropriately discarded using a prepaid mail-back envelope. Despite the intention of this directive to simplify opioid disposal, the Senators stress the importance of an alternative disposal method at home, especially for rural and tribal communities burdened by limited access to the United States Postal Service, offering a safer and more cost-effective solution according to a press release.
According to a press release, U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich, Jon Tester, and Patty Murray said, “Our constituents in rural areas do not always have regular mail access and any policy that focuses solely on mail-only disposal creates an undue burden for those individuals to safely remove opioids from their homes.”
According to a press release, U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich, Jon Tester, and Patty Murray said, “While we appreciate the effort that the FDA has put into addressing the ongoing opioid crisis, it is clear that any comprehensive approach to opioid disposal must include at-home disposal alongside a mail-back policy in order to adequately improve American’s ability to safely dispose of opioids. We request that the FDA initiate meaningful Tribal consultation and discussions with impacted communities – particularly those without reliable access to USPS, and fully include the feedback from those Tribal consultations and discussions with smaller towns and rural areas prior to finalizing this policy.”